Baseball continues to be a favorite past time, and each year millions of youngsters dream of becoming a major league pitcher. So too, do many adults share the dream of joining the ranks of legendary pitchers. Even professional ball players who are already pitchers practice pitching to improve or maintain performance. Conventional pitching aids present a target for the pitcher that represents the strike zone. As the pitcher practices, he can visually judge which pitches are strikes. Sophisticated pitching aids give a visual or audible indication of a strike, and even more advanced pitching aids use computers to count balls and strikes. Unfortunately, as sophistication increases, cost also increases making the devices rather expensive for children desiring to improve pitching performance. Accordingly, it will be appreciated that it would be highly desirable to have a pitching aid that is affordable for the masses.
There are two major problems to be solved by a pitching aid. First, it is not enough to simply determine balls and strikes. It is necessary to pitch to the inside and outside of the strike zone as well as pitch up or down in the strike zone. A need thus exists for dividing the strike zone while keeping the device simple to use and relatively inexpensive. Second, it is desired to return the pitched ball to the pitcher in a controlled manner so that the pitcher can concentrate on the pitching without having to retrieve balls or dodge returning balls.
Conventional pitching aids have rigid metal frames that support the target or require a backstop that uses a screen mounted on a movable metal frame or permanently mounted on posts embedded in the ground. Embedded posts limit the mobility of the device making it useable only at the location where the posts are embedded. Metal frames are often too bulky for transports again limiting mobility, or require time, and sometimes expertise, to disassemble and reassemble. Accordingly, it will be appreciated that it would be highly desirable to have a pitching aid that is easily transported from one location, such as home, to another location, such a ball field or home of a friend or teammate.